Surfer attacked by shark Saturday morning at Marina State Beach

California State Park Lifeguard Kevin Brady holds a surfboard with a bite in it after a shark attack at Marina State Beach in Marina on Saturday. Eric Tarantino was bit in the neck and arm after paddling out early in the morning.

MARINA - A Monterey man suffered multiple injuries Saturday morning when he was attacked by a shark while surfing at Marina State Beach, authorities said.

Eric Tarantino, 27, was bitten along the right side of his body by a shark that took a 19-inch chunk from his red surfboard. He had wounds on his neck, shoulder, wrist and forearm, witnesses reported.

The attack occurred just after 7 a.m., shortly after Tarantino and a friend, Brandon McKibben of Salinas, had entered the water.

"It was still twilight and Eric and Brandon were the first two out there," said Skip Londos of Seaside. "Within about 10 minutes we saw both of them turn around and start paddling in quickly, and a lot of us who surf here consistently realized right away they must have seen a shark."

"Eric had paddled a little bit deeper than me, onto the peak," McKibben said. "I went up over the top of the wave and as I was coming down I could hear him yelling 'Shark! Shark!' And at that point we turned around and started paddling in as fast as we could. Luckily, a few minutes later a set (of waves) came in and we were able to catch it and ride in on our stomachs."

McKibben said he looked at Tarantino, 4 feet away, and noticed his arm was bleeding badly. With help from McKibben, Tarantino managed to get out of the water.

Eight to 10 fellow surfers used beach towels to apply a tourniquet to Tarantino's arm and staunch the bleeding from his neck. Paramedics arrived about eight minutes later, witnesses said, and treated Tarantino before transporting him to Marina Municipal Airport. From there, he was airlifted to San Jose. His conditional was not immediately known Saturday evening but officials had said earlier that his injuries didn't appear to be life-threatening.

On Saturday afternoon, there were only a handful of people at the Marina State Park and large signs posted around the vicinity warned beach-goers to avoid swimming, surfing and other water activities in light of the reported shark attack.

Shark warning signs were expected to be posted from Fort Ord to Moss Landing, said Dana M. Jones, Monterey Sector superintendent for the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Dave Dove of Salinas was walking on the beach Saturday afternoon and said he'd seen the signs.

"I'm not worried because we're not swimming or going in the water," he said.

Saturday's attack occurred near the spot where Todd Endris of Marina was bitten by a shark in August 2007, a shredding-type assault that required 500 stitches and 200 staples to close.

"This thing today kind of brought it all back to me," said Endris, who happened to arrive at the scene shortly after the attack.

Earlier this week, a 15-foot white shark was photographed from a helicopter about a quarter mile off Seacliff State Beach, according to shark researchers.

Sean Van Sommeran, executive director of the Santa Cruz-based Pelagic Shark Research Foundation, said it was probably an adult white shark which are often spotted in waters off Santa Cruz County in the fall. From October to January, white sharks typically come to places like the seal rookery at A?o Nuevo Island to "fuel up" on prey and prepare for long trips toward Hawaii.

Van Sommeran went out in a helicopter Saturday afternoon to see if he could spot the shark that attacked Tarantino but as of around 3 p.m., he hadn't spotted anything.

The attack could be worrisome news for competitors at the annual Coldwater Classic surfing contest, which is under way this week at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, and Kelly Slater's Rip Curl Surf Contest, scheduled next week at Ocean Beach in San Francisco.